"It pissed me off. That's my true answer. It pissed me off because out of 101 votes I got 16 first-place votes. That's what pissed me off more than anything. I'm not saying that the winner wasn't deserving of the MVP, but that pissed me off. I finished second a lot in my career, either from a championship, and now four times as the MVP. Like I said, I never came into the league saying 'I'm gonna be MVP' or 'I'm gonna be champion,' I've always said I just want to get better every single day and those things will take care of themselves. Some things are just out of my hands, some things you can't control, but it pissed me off."—LeBron James during his postgame press conference following Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
That statement did stir up the sports world anew. Knowing that the statement was made by one of the most hated athlete in the league. Everyone always gonna have something to talk about whether it is good or bad. But what really makes him "pissed of" about it?
People who really followed this man's journey in the league already knew that Lebron being a second placer of that said award is nothing new. Yep, he's been there before, for a man that was considered as the greatest athlete in the world today.
2011, he lost the race of MVP award against Derrick Rose. Even LeBron's teammate, Chris Bosh publicly announced that he voted Rose over him. LeBron eventually agreed his decisions.
2013, though he really won that year's MVP award, he still felt "heated"(that was the term he used) when one of the media voter voted another player other than him. That single-place vote was given to his close friend, Carmelo Anthony of New York Knicks, and that denied him to become the first player who won a unanimous MVP award. That feat was later on completed by Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors three years after.
2016, Stephen Curry made history by winning the first-ever Unanimous MVP award. And again, LeBron was the second place. But he accepted it saying that Curry's numbers(a walking 90/50/40 shooting percentage) plus the teams 73-9 record was way better than his.
2018, this is the year where "The Beard", James Harden of Houston Rockets prevailed. LeBron felt that he must be the winner because of the fact the he played 10 more games than Harden. LeBron also rebounded well more than him.
The present, Giannis Antetokounmpo won the race. Lebron really don't want to say that he don't deserved the award. Giannis' team won more than LeBron's team and he clearly led on almost every stats. One thing that LeBron is trying to dispute is the margin of the votes. He got a 16 out of 101 votes, and it is something that made him bothered, "pissed off."
I guess, it is him having a heart of a competitor, made him felt that. If you are that "don't have something to prove" type of a person, maybe you could easily let that happen. But not LeBron. Some people says that his age might be a factor but, undeniably and evidently he is better than almost(if not all) young players out there in spite of his age. And he isn't even showing some signs of slowing down.
What do you think? Does he deserve the award more than Giannis? Is the voting margin reasonable? I wanna hear your thoughts so please comment down below.
I believe Lebron should be the winner of the MVP of the year. He has greats stats on his career all throughout. Meanwhile, he has great leadership towards the team he had over the years. I believe that suits his well for winning MVP but I don't know why the voters are on his side. Probably because they are insecure or they don't want Lebron to own another trophy.